LUKE CHAPTER 6

LUKE CHAPTER 6

SCRIPTURE

Today I will summarize Luke chapter6 where Luke wrote about Jesus claiming to be Lord of the Sabbath.  Where Jesus picked his twelve apostles and where Jesus taught the beatitudes to the crowds.  On one Sabbath Jesus and his disciples were hungry.  They were going through some random grain fields picking grain and eating it.   Some Pharisees saw them and said,” Why are you breaking the Sabbath and picking grain to eat?  Jesus answered them, David and his companions were hungry and they ate the consecrated bread offered to God.  That was not lawful. Only the Priests were allowed.  “The son of man is the Lord of the Sabbath. On another Sabbath Day, Jesus entered the synagogue and started teaching.  He saw a man with a paralyzed hand.  Jesus looked over at the Pharisees who were watching to see if Jesus would heal on the Sabbath.  Jesus said to the man come over here.  Then Jesus looked at the Pharisees and said is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the Sabbath? Are you allowed to save a life or destroy it on the Sabbath? “I am the Lord of the Sabbath” and I say it is lawful to do good and heal people on this day.  Jesus told the man to stretch out his hands and when he did stretch out his hands he was completely healed. 

The Pharisees saw this and were filled with rage because of what just happened.  They discussed with each other what they should do to get rid of Jesus. One day Jesus went off to a mountain to pray.  Jesus would spend all night in prayer to the father in heaven.  This day he was asking whom he should choose to be his apostles. In the morning Jesus called his disciples to him and chose twelve of them, whom he named Apostles.  Simon (whom he named Peter) and his brother Andrew; James and John, Philip and Bartholomew, Matthew and Thomas, son of Alphaeus, and Simon (who is called the Patriot) Judas son of James, and Judas Iscariot, the one who betrayed Jesus.  After this, he went down the mountain to where a great throng of people had come to hear him. 

Many people came because they wanted to be healed of their sicknesses.  Jesus healed everyone who came to him for healing.  Jesus then looked at all of his disciples and started to teach them “The Beatitudes”.   Jesus began, “Happy are the poor in spirit; the kingdom of God is yours!  “Blessed are you who hunger for righteousness; you will be filled! Blessed are you who weep now; you will laugh!  Blessed are you when people hate you and ostracize you, and insult you and say you are evil for my sake; Be very glad on that day when it happens, and dance for joy, because a great reward is kept for you in heaven.  For their ancestors did the very same thing to the prophets. But how terrible It would be for those who are rich now; you have had your easy life! How terrible for you are full now; you will go hungry! How terrible for you who laugh now; you will mourn and weep! How terrible when all people speak well of you; their ancestors said the very same things about the false prophets.  Jesus continued I am teaching everyone who can understand. 

Love your enemies.  Do good to those who hate you and bless those who curse you.  Pray for those who mistreat you.  Whoever publicly insults you by slapping you on the cheek offers the other cheek as well.  Whoever sues you and takes away your coat.  Give them your shirt as well.  Give at least something to everyone who asks something from you.  If someone steals your things don’t demand them back.  Treat others the same way you want them to treat you.  If you love only those who love you and do good to those who do good to you. 

Why should you receive a blessing?  Even sinners do that.  But when you love and do good to others.  Expect nothing back in return.  The God who sees you doing this will reward you with great rewards in heaven and you will be called the children of God.  He is kind to evil and ungrateful people.  Be merciful just like your father in heaven is merciful.  Jesus taught; don’t pretend we are the judge over someone else because we are not the judge.  Do not condemn because you will not be condemned.  If you pardoned others you will be pardoned. 

Give and it will be given back to you.  A blind man cannot lead another blind man, can he? If he tries, they will both fall into the pit.  Don’t look at the speck in someone else’s eye when you have a log protruding out of your eye. You hypocrite! First, take the log out of your eye and then you can take the speck out of your brother’s eye.  No good tree will ever produce bad fruit and no bad tree will ever produce good fruit.  Each tree is known by its fruit.  You can tell a good man from a bad man by what comes out of his mouth and his behavior towards others.  If his actions and words are evil it reflects who he is inside.  If he is a good and God-fearing man you will be able to tell by his words and actions and it will reflect who he is from the inside.  A man will speak and do what is in his heart.  Jesus said why do you call me Lord and you do not do what I say.  Stop pretending. 

Whoever calls me lord listens to my words and acts on those words is like a master builder who dug a deep foundation for his house and laid the foundation on the sturdy rock.  When the flood comes and the flood will come, the house will stand because it was well built.  Whoever calls me Lord listens to my words and does not act on those words is like a foolish builder who built his house on the sand with no foundation.  When the flood comes and it will come to the house will immediately collapse and the ruin of that house will be great.  Call me Lord, listen to my words, and do what I say. 

OBSERVATION

The thing I think the lord wants us to understand after reading this chapter is that Jesus claimed to be the Lord of the Sabbath and claimed to make the rules surrounding the Old Testament.  God wants us to see that Jesus chose the 12 apostles from many disciples who were with him.  God wants us to see that we should love our enemies and do good to those who hate us.  We should treat every person the same way we would want them to treat us.  God wants us to pay attention to how people speak.  If they speak evil filthy things and claim to be a Christian.  They are fooling themselves.  But if they speak good things and claim to be Christians, they are most likely telling you the truth.  The Lord wants us to see that there is a difference between people who only say that Jesus is lord but do not do what he says and those people who say he is lord and Obey his every word.  Do you say that Jesus is lord but you do not care what he has to say?  Don’t build your house on the sand.  There will be a flood coming for all of us called death and we all need to be ready.  Let’s all build on the rock.  Why don’t you build on the rock for the first time right now if you’ve never done so?  Come let us turn from our sin right now and repent.  Come let us place our faith in Jesus Christ for salvation.  We never know when the hour will come.  I invite you to come my dear brothers and sisters and ask for forgiveness and follow Christ.  Otherwise, it will be too late before you realize it.  Now the Holy Spirit is still with us.  There will come a time at the rapture when the Holy Spirit will be gone from this place and you will be left alone and you will regret it.

PRAYER

Lord Jesus, I’m tired of the sin struggle in my life.  I feel distant from You.  My choices have not led me to the right places.  I have listened to the whispers of my enemy instead of your word in the scripture, and the result has been disastrous.  I once walked with you, my heart tender to your leading.  Yet little by little, I exchanged your truth for temptations and deceit that led me away from you.  Instead of taking thoughts captive and confessing them immediately, I allowed them to grow totally out of control.  Repentance was not in my vocabulary.  Blame, cover-ups, or trying to reason and rationalize sin never works.  They only gave birth to sin entanglements.  You created me in your image, Lord. You know my thoughts before I speak them.  You X-ray my heart and see through my excuses and intentions.  Your spirit warned me, but I ignored you.  Disappointment and encouragement have taken their toll on me.  So today, I am confessing my desperate need for you.  You have promised that if we will confess our sins, you will forgive us and make us clean again.  Lord, I truly need your forgiveness.  Repentance is on my heart and lips.  I want to turn around and head in another direction back to you, Lord.  But I need your help.  You paid for my sin with your death.  Restore my life and the fellowship we once shared.  I take all the blame.  I owe my sin.  I am the one who broke fellowship with you and was crushed over the way I treated you and your name.  Father, please root out the darkness and light up my life with your Holy presence.  Help me understand what went wrong.  Show me how my destructive patterns first began.  What did I allow to become more important than honoring and loving you?  Why did I seek satisfaction in others or other things than you? You are the only one who provides me with all my needs.  You fill up the soul with peace and deep joy beyond all understanding.  Forgive me father I pray.  I am sorry I hurt you, the Holy Spirit, and Jesus.  Please forgive and have mercy upon me.  I ask this in the name of your beloved son our Lord Jesus Christ.  Amen